While limited space and TIE’s migratory nature are traditional concerns facing theatre-in-education companies, ‘Home’ posed its own set of challenges for the Gazebo team. The personal histories in ‘Home’ and the stories through which they are presented span long periods of time, from the post-war era through current refugee debates in Britain, and large geographic distances, from the Caribbean to India to Cora’s unidentified birthplace.

The challenge for director Michael O’Hara and set designer Alison Clark was to imagine a small, easily portable set that could convey such extensive spatial and temporal distances.

The trunks play an integral part in staging ‘Home.’ Neville, Alice, Kamaljeet and Anna enter the stage carrying suitcases, giving the impression that they have just travelled long distances. The suitcases provide a base for the characters and contain props incorporated into characters’ stories, such as coconuts from the Caribbean or cloth from Madras, that help the characters conjure up memories of far away places and encourage children in the audience to imagine places as distant and diverse as Jamaica, Madras or Poland.